6 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK i 



uncultivated in a poor soil ; but in the improved state, all the stimuli 

 of varied food, of warmth, &c., are afforded in abundance, and the 

 consequence is a luxuriant growth, and evolution of varieties, and the 

 exhibition of all the perfections of which each species is capable." 



Previous to the issue of the last edition of this work in 1877, 

 another and a warm discussion was raised on the subject of the Wild 

 Cattle. In the controversy which arose, several writers, some of them 

 eminent as breeders of farm stock, took part. They set themselves to 

 discuss the problem : " Was there ever an aboriginal breed of cattle in 

 this country?" From this question arose another: " And if there was a 

 breed from which all other breeds have descended, was this represented 

 by the White Cattle, and were the cattle now known to exist at Chilling- 

 ham Park the descendants of these ? " The discussion, heated though 

 it was, ended very much where it began, leaving the whole problem 

 surrounded with the doubt and uncertainty which still enshroud it. 

 Nevertheless, those who maintained that the Chillingham Park cattle 

 were the true descendants of an original breed appeared to have the 

 best of the argument. The latest authentic information respecting 

 our native wild cattle cannot fail to interest all breeders of bovine 

 stock, and will be found pleasantly written in " The Wild White 

 Cattle of Great Britain." Still more recent, however, are the details 

 we now proceed to give. 



Herds of Wild Cattle in the Parks of Great Britain. In the Report 

 of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1887), 

 there is published the report of a committee which was appointed " for 

 the purpose of preparing a report on the herds of Wild Cattle in 

 Chartley Park, and other Parks in Great Britain." It is there stated 

 that the Urus (Bos primigenius) was probably the only indigenous wild 

 ox (i.e., of the genus Bos ; there was in addition the Bison), not alone 

 in this country, but throughout the Palsearctic region, and was the source 

 of all our domesticated breeds, as well as of the White -Park Cattle. 

 But while we may fairly trace these park herds back to the Bubali or 

 Tauri sylvestres, mentioned by Matthew Paris, Fitz- Stephen, and others 

 as occurring down to mediaeval times, whether these animals were 

 genuine Uri, or feral cattle, is doubtful. The original Urus was a 

 huge beast, while the park cattle, as we know them, are smaller than 

 many domesticated breeds ; but deterioration in size would be a natural 

 result of their way of life and long-continued in-breeding. The pre- 

 vailing white colour of the park herds (with that tendency to throw 

 black calves which still exists in most of them, and which is specially 

 apparent when any admixture of blood takes place) is probably a 

 result of the same cause, and not the original colour of the Urus. 

 White cattle had a special value, according to the Welsh laws of Howell 

 Dha (A.D. 940), as is also proved by the present which Maud de 

 Breos 1 sent to appease King John. With the exception of the Lyme 



1 Speed in his "History of Great Britaine," 1611, states that Maude de Breos, in order 

 to appease King John, whom her husband had offended, sent to his queen a present from 

 Brecknockshire of four hundred cows and a bull, all white ivith red ears. Whether, 

 remarks Mr. J. E. Harting, this was the usual colour of the ancient breed of Welsh and British 

 cattle, or a rare variety, esteemed on account of its beauty, and chiefly preserved in the 



